[Ratmagiclady]

Story so far: at a public appearance, Democratic Congresswoman Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head at point blank range, thought dead, though repotedly in extremely critical condition, it sounds like eleven others shot, and four killed.

This after a lot of militant rhetoric against her.

And they kept insisting the polarizing rhetoric was just talk.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/08/gabrielle-giffords-shot-c_n_806211.html

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Last edited by Ratmagiclady; 01-08-2011 at 12:57 PM.

[RioRico]

I'm sorry, but I'm shaken. My second home is in southern Arizona, and congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was assassinated this morning. This is where hate rhetoric leads.

[jeffkrol]

Story so far: at a public appearance, Democratic Congresswoman Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head at point blank range, thought dead, though repotedly in extremely critical condition, it sounds like eleven others shot, and four killed.

This after a lot of militant rhetoric against her.

And they kept insisting the polarizing rhetoric was just talk.

Gabrielle Giffords Shot: Congresswoman Shot In Arizona (LIVE UPDATES)

SAD...........

Miss Giffords had been named as a political campaign target for conservatives in November’s elections by former Alaska governor Sarah Palin for her strong support for the health reforms of President Barack Obama.

Mrs Palin had published a “target map” on her website using images of gun sights to identify 20 House Democrats, including Miss Giffords, for backing the new health care law.

The congresswoman, who is Jewish, is a gun-owner and supporter of the right to bear arms. She was also a strong advocate of abortion rights. She nonetheless won re-election to her third term in Congress.

Law enforcement officials told local media that a suspect was in custody. Witnesses said that the gunman was tackled to the ground by a bystander as he attempted to flee the scene of the shooting.

Mr Rayle, who a former emergency room doctor, said Miss Giffords was able to move her hands after being shot.

Miss Giffords, who was first elected to Congress in 2006 and was re-elected for a third time in November, had just returned from Washington to Arizona after being sworn in to the new House.

She had sent a message on the social networking site Twitter inviting constituent to a “Congress on Your Corner” event. “Please stop by to let me know what is on your mind or tweet me later,” she wrote. In a message earlier in the day, she said: “So good to be home. Happy New Year!”

Her husband is a veteran of the Desert Storm military campaign against Iraq and the couple have two children. Mr Kelly was the commander of the Endeavour, the final planned mission of the American space shuttle programme which flew in 2008. His twin brother Scott is also a NASA astronaut.

Born in Tucson, Miss Giffords was a strong supporter of the right to bear arms. She was a target of conservative Republican campaigning for her enthusiastic backing of President Barack Obama’s healthcare reforms and last year complained that her office in Tucson had been attacked by vandals.

It is believed to be the first time that a woman politician has been the object of an assassination attempt in America, a country where elected leaders have often been the subject of attacks.

US President Abraham Lincoln was shot dead while at the theatre with his wife in 1865. Another US president, James Garfield, was assassinated in 1881.

President John F Kennedy was shot while driving through Dallas, Texas, in an open topped car in November 1963. His brother Robert, a senator and presidential candidate was shot dead in 1968.

President Ronald Reagan survived an attempted assassination in 1981, when John Hinckley Jnr fired shots at him in the hope of impressing the actress Jodie Foster, with whom he was obsessed.

The black nationalist leader Malcolm X was killed while addressing a crowd in New York city in February 1965, while Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the States, was shot dead in November 1978.

American congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords shot in head - Telegraph
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2011/01/an-assassination.html

But it remains the kind of rhetorical excess which was warned about at the time, and which loners can use to dreadful purposes. It is compounded by the kind of language used by the Arizona Wildcat as well. Maybe "Palin Reloads; Aims For Giffords" is good copy as a headline. But next time, an editor should surely pause before enabling forces whose capacity for violence is real

http://www.doublex.com/blog/xxfactor
http://gawker.com/5728501/

[gokenin]

6 mins ago
TUCSON, Arizona (Reuters) – Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot point blank in the head by a man who opened fire indiscriminately at a constituency meeting in Tucson, U.S. media reported on Saturday.
Giffords, a 40-year-old Democrat in her third term in Congress, was airlifted to a hospital in Tucson shortly after the shooting at a Safeway supermarket in the Arizona city.
"She is currently in surgery. She's alive," University Medical Center spokeswoman Darci Slaten told Reuters. Slaten added that nine other shooting victims were being treated at the hospital.
NPR, citing the sheriff's office in Pima County, Arizona, initially reported that Giffords and six others had died in the shooting, though it later said there were conflicting reports.
Fox News reported that between 12 and 15 people were shot.
Giffords was hosting a "Congress on Your Corner" event -- public gatherings to give her constituents a chance to talk directly with her -- when attacked from about four feet away, NPR said.
The report said the suspect tried to run away but was tackled by a bystander and was in police custody.
Re-elected in the November 2 election, Giffords has focused on immigration reform, military issues, stem cell research and alternative energy while serving in Congress. She is married to U.S. astronaut Mark Kelly.
(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Paul Simao, Editing by Anthony Boadle)

[Ratmagiclady]

Lady, Jeff, that's much more encouraging news though, if she was conscious after the shooting.

Looks like someone'll be making a statement about fifteen minutes from now.

[Ratmagiclady]

Jeff's got some better news (I kinda went right to the politics board with a thread like this,) in the form of a report she was conscious after the shooting, which is a lot more hopeful than it sounded. It sounds like there'll be a statement very shortly.

Update: Not much word on her condition: the figure now is as many as 18 hit, 6 reported dead, they've caught the shooter, recovered the weapon (pistol with extended magazine) ....wait.....

The Congresswoman was in fact shot through the head, (brain in fact,) is in critical condition, but nonetheless doctors are as optimistic as one could be for some kind of recovery at this point. She was talking and responding before surgery.

Sadly, a nine year old girl died of injuries at the hospital, otherwise that hospital has a lot of critical patients on their hands but hasn't confirmed any more deaths than that. It's a lot of people seriously injured at least, not clear if any of those were people counted as dead but saved by the doctors.

[ChatMechant]

when all else fails, i guess you just shoot em in the head? it's nice to know that even with it's liberal gun laws, arizona hasn't attracted a bunch of right-wing nutjobs.

[ChatMechant]

Is it possible to stop violent people from getting their way through violence, without being violent?

[Ratmagiclady]

Is it possible to stop violent people from getting their way through violence, without being violent?

Yes, but not every time.

[Phil1]

""Sadly, a nine year old girl died of injuries at the hospital, otherwise that hospital has a lot of critical patients on their hands but hasn't confirmed any more deaths than that.""

Reportedly a Repub appointed federal judge was also killed. The Congresswoman was a Repub switched to the Dems and was concidered a blue dog (conservative) Demo and a gun owner. She is quite popular and in her third elected public office term. The shooter was captured and is a 22 year old male.

I hope that info is correct at this early point. What a sad waste.

edit: Damn, I just heard the death toll is 5 now.

[raz-0]

Is it possible to stop violent people from getting their way through violence, without being violent?

Do you honestly think this act is going to result in someone getting their way on something? I don't think in the entirety of history has one person displeased with the way things are actually caused change by a single act of violence. In general, you need a general consensus on an issue that pisses off a reasonably sized group willing to do violence, as well a means of redressing that issue that that group agrees will stop the violence. Even then, it has a pretty iffy track record.

[dadipentak]

Hoping for her full recovery. The deaths--especially the little girl--are tragic.

[Haakan]

I am truly saddened by this event.
Unfortunately I am not surprised. It could almost be expected when you have politicians like Palin publishing lists with gun crosshairs and naming of people, of which Gabrielle Giffords was one.

Haakan

[Colbyt]

This is not the proper way to handle differences in a democratic republic.

I will be real interested in hearing the details of the shooter. I will hold further comments pending that.

My sincere condolences to all those families.

[jolepp]

Similar threads merged.